A chemotherapy regimen is a regimen for chemotherapy , defining the drugs to be used, their dosage, the frequency and duration of treatments, and other considerations. In modern oncology , many regimens combine several chemotherapy drugs in combination chemotherapy . The majority of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy are cytostatic , many via cytotoxicity .
6-531: FOLFIRINOX is a chemotherapy regimen for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer . It is made up of the following four drugs: The regimen emerged in 2010 as a new treatment for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. A 2011 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that FOLFIRINOX produced the longest improvement in survival ever seen in a phase III clinical trial of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, with patients on
12-520: A Patient Access Scheme (PAS) proposal, which would bring down the cost of the drug. Chemotherapy regimen A fundamental philosophy of medical oncology , including combination chemotherapy, is that different drugs work through different mechanisms, and that the results of using multiple drugs will be synergistic to some extent. Because they have different dose-limiting adverse effects , they can be given together at full doses in chemotherapy regimens. The first successful combination chemotherapy
18-546: The FOLFIRINOX treatment living approximately four months longer than patients receiving the standard gemcitabine treatment (11.1 months compared with 6.8 months). However, FOLFIRINOX is a potentially highly toxic combination of drugs with serious side effects, and only patients with good performance status are candidates for the regimen. Currently FOLFIRINOX is being used as a neoadjuvant therapy, meaning to downstage patients with "borderline and locally advanced" disease with
24-420: The hope of rendering their tumors amenable to surgical resection. In 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved protein-bound paclitaxel (also known as nab-paclitaxel, sold as Abraxane) used with gemcitabine. This regimen may be less toxic—but perhaps less effective—alternative to FOLFIRINOX for treating late-stage pancreatic cancer. Differences in the trials, and the lack of a direct trial comparing
30-614: The two regimens, preclude a final conclusion. In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in a draft guidance issued in 2014, rejected the use of Abraxane in treatment due to concerns of side effects, efficacy, and cost relative to Gemzar ( gemcitabine ). However, on 18 May 2017 NICE issued a reappraisal for the use of Abraxane in the UK. This was in response to Celgene putting forward
36-405: Was MOPP , introduced in 1963 for lymphomas . The term " induction regimen " refers to a chemotherapy regimen used for the initial treatment of a disease. A " maintenance regimen " refers to the ongoing use of chemotherapy to reduce the chances of a cancer recurring or to prevent an existing cancer from continuing to grow. Chemotherapy regimens are often identified by acronyms , identifying
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